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PRACTICAL HINTS 



ON THE 



COMPAMTIVE COST AND PEODUCTIVENESS 



OP THE 



CULTURE OF COTTON, 



AND THE . 



COST AND PRODUCTIVENESS OF ITS MANUFACTURE. 



ADDRESSED TO THE COTTON PLANTERS AND CAPITALISTS 
OF THE SOUTH. 



V^ 



BY CHARLES T. JAMES. 



^- PROVIDENCE: 
PRINTED BY JOSEPH KNOWLES. 

1849. , '''^ ''^^ 

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TO 

HAMILTON SMITH, ESQ. 

LOUISVILLE, KEN. 

Dear Sir : — In compliance with your request, I present you with 
the following pages, as the exposition of my views, though in a concen- 
trated form, on the subject of cotton manufactures, with especial ref- 
erence to the cotton growing portion of the United States. For more 
than twenty years, my time, and whatever ability I may possess, have 
been devoted to the manufacturing business, in all its details ; and, 
during that period, I have constructed, either in whole, or in part, be- 
tween twenty and thirty cotton factories, and put in operation be- 
tween two and three hundred thousand spindles. Without indulging 
therefore, to a very great degree, a feeling of self-esteem, I think it 
may be said with truth, that my experience and observation ought to 
have made me, by this time, tolerably well acquainted with my busi- 
ness. How far my efforts have succeeded, let my works and my em- 
ployers bear witness. In drawing up the following pages, I have 
also, in addition to my own experience, availed myself of such helps 
as were at hand ; and though, from the little time I have been able 
to appropriate to the work, it may embrace some inaccuracies both 
as to style and matter, yet it is confidently believed that no errors 
will be found in the latter respect, of any material importance ; and 
that the whole is sufficiently correct for all practical purposes. 

Respectfully yours, 

CHARLES T. JAMES. 
Providence, K Z, March 30, 1849. 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 



National Wealth, together with its creation and 
accumulation, constitutes a subject on which much has 
been said and written ; and yet there are thousands of 
persons, otherwise enlightened, who appear to know but 
little about it, or, neglecting the principles of true econo- 
my, seem to regard them as being of little or no impor- 
tance. The writer does not, however, undertake, in the 
following pages, to portray the science of political encon- 
omy, but, to give some practical hints, mostly applica- 
ble to a single branch of business, on the creation and 
accumulation of wealth. In passing, it may be well to 
remind the reader, of the well known fact, that, as far as 
national wealth is concerned, it is made up of the wealth 
of individuals. He, therefore, who points out the means 
of accumulating individual wealth, shows how the wealth 
of communities and nations is increased. In order to 
confer the greatest and most lasting benefits by the cre- 
ation of wealth, it is highly essential that its elements, 
and the proceeds of their products, should be so distri- 
buted, that while they enrich the capitalist and employer, 
they should furnish a fair compensation to the industrial 
classes, and afford them, at least, a full supply of the 
comforts of life. Without such a result, however rich, 
no nation can i3e happy, as a people ; for, without such 
a result, though the nation may be rich in the aggregate, 
the great masses of the people may suffer all the wretch- 



edness of penury and want. Witness, for instance, the 
example of Great Britain. If, in that kingdom, the 
fruits of capital and industry were so distributed that la- 
bor should receive a due reward, the miseries of priva- 
tion never need be felt by the industrial classes. On the 
other hand, though the British Empire is immensly rich, 
the British people, that is, the masses, are miserably poor. 
Comparatively, the wealth is grasped in the hands of a 
few, while a vast majority are reduced either to abso- 
lute pauperism, or to a state closely bordering on it. To 
perpetuate this condition of the laboring poor, there is, 
of the entire wealth of the kingdom, no less than ^3,730,- 
000,000 absorbed in the public debt! The interest and 
charges on this enormous sum, are no less than $130,- 
000,000 per annum, to be paid by means of taxes and 
impost and excise duties, which are eventually, though 
indirectly, laid on labor itself. From that source alone, the 
aristocracy, as well as the royalty of Great Britain, draw 
the above amount, to say nothing of much larger sums 
for the support of royalty, and for governmental purposes. 
In this way, is industry robbed of much of its re- 
ward ; and of the rest, more hereafter. However de- 
sirable wealth may be, Heaven forbid that the United 
States should ever possess the wealth of Great Britain, 
if they must take her poverty and wretchedness with it. 
The elements of wealth, I take to be, all that is com- 
bined for its production. They are labor, skill, and ma- 
terials. Wealth is the direct product of this indispensa- 
ble combination, while the circulating medium, whether 
gold and silver or any thing else, is a convenient adjunct, 
to facilitate the operation. Money is not wealth, except 
merely as a house of delegates are the people — by repre- 
sentation. The moneyed man, is a man of wealth only 
by implication. Having nothing but money, he has no ac- 



tual wealth, yet he possesses the talisman that can, not cre- 
ate, but command it. All the market value of money is 
absolutely dependent on the combined operation of labor, 
skill, and materials. These again are valueless in them- 
selves, each by itself; and their value is enstamped on 
them by means of their combined operation and product; 
and the latter being valuable only as calculated to supply 
the vi^ants of mankind, to satisfy their appetites, and to 
cancel their wishes. The metals are valueless, as truly 
as the refuse of their ores, without labor and skill to re- 
duce them to desired forms. So would be the labor and 
skill without the material. So also would be the product 
of the combination, unless adapted to the wants or de- 
sires of man. This is all the value of any thing, in a 
commercial sense. From these plain and simple facts, 
we learn : First — that labor, skill, and materials, are the 
elements of wealth, and which latter consists of the com- 
bined product of the three former: Second — that that 
only can assume the character of wealth, which can be 
applied to some definite purpose for the use of mankind : 
Third — that money is valuable only as the representative 
of wealth — as the medium of exchange by which busi- 
ness transactions are facilitated, and the creation and ac- 
cumulation of wealth accelerated. In these senses alone 
is it useful or valuable. 

For instance — A. has materials for a hat, but he can- 
not work them into the desired form. To remain in his 
hands, they would be valueless. But B. purchases the 
materials, for which he pays four dollars ; and thus ena- 
bles A. to purchase a pair of boots. B. fashions the ma- 
terials into a hat, which he does not want. C. however 
wants it, and pays B. six dollars for it. Here then is 
wealth created to the amount of six dollars, by the labor, 
skill, and materials of A. and B. Its value to B. is six 



8 

dollars, because, with that money he can purchase a bar- 
rel of flour, and which flour he wants. It is worth the 
same to C, because he wants the hat more than he wants 
six dollars. Yet, the whole would have remained value- 
less, without the labor and skill of B. and without the 
several wants of A. B. and C. And the money exchan- 
ged between them would have been useless and valueless, 
unless each could have purchased with it what he want- 
ed. This is the use of money, and this use alone stamps 
it with value. It is this which makes it, not essentially 
one of the elements of wealth, but a means by which 
the combination of those elements is more readily brought 
about, its operations facilitated, and its products more 
rapidly enhanced. From these simple and well known 
truisms, we arrive at a deduction equally simple and true, 
that, where the elements of wealth, together with their 
handmaid, capital, are most equally and judiciously dis- 
tributed and combined, their operation will be most ef- 
fective, and most subserve public and individual good. 

The entire amount of wealth embodied in any quan- 
tity of boots and shoes, though a pile as large as the Al- 
legany mountains, would be no greater than that in a few 
pairs actually wanted for use ; and all the balance would 
be so much waste of time and materials. So of every 
other article. To command a price and a profit, +he pub- 
lic want must be the limit of production. From this rule, 
it does not necessarily follow that the productions of a 
country should be limited to the demand at home. One 
country may produce more of an article than its wants 
demand ; and another may produce less. The latter 
country may produce more of another article than it can 
consume, and of which there is a deficiency in the for- 
mer. Now if each of these two countries can produce 
the article of which it has a deficiency, at a less cost than 



it can be purchased for of the other, then tliere is a mu- 
tual loss, and so a loss to either, if such be the case with 
either, and vice versa. One country produces a raw ma- 
terial for manufactures. After using at home all that 
can be used to a profit, and there being no object for a 
profitable application of the redundant labor, then it is 
good economy to continue the production of the article, 
in the quantity equivalent to the foreign demand. But 
when the supply may extend beyond that limit, it should 
be curtailed ; because an over supply always gives the 
purchaser the advantage in the market, when the profit 
of manufacturing at home, is greater than that of pro- 
ducing it. Take the case of an individual farmer, if 
you please, to illustrate this position. A. raises one 
thousand bushels of corn in a year ; and, wanting but five 
hundred bushels for his own consumption, he sells five 
hundred to B. But B. raises one thousand bushels of 
wheat, and requiring but five hundred for himself, sells 
the other five hundred to A. Now if A. makes ten cents 
per bushel on his corn, and B. makes twenty cents per 
bushel on his wheat, it is evident that B. has the advan- 
tage, by fifty dollars. It is equally evident, that if A. 
can raise wheat at the same cost B. can, he should cur- 
tail his crop of corn, and grow his own wheat. The 
same rule holds good of communities, states, or nations. 
Suppose, again — B. has flouring mills. A neighbor- 
ing community furnishes a full supply of wheat for them. 
B. converts this wheat into Hour, and sells it to that com- 
munity, at a net profit of twenty per cent. If that com- 
munity have, equal facilities with B. to erect and operate 
flouring mills, and can still raise all the wheat they want, 
is it not perfectly evident that it would be much to their 
interest to manufacture it at home ? 
2 



10 

If, again, the people of the United States should ship 
all their wheat to Europe to be manufactured into flour, 
and then purchase it back again at an advance of one 
hundred per cent, on its original price ; that would be 
considered a bad speculation and a great sacrifice of 
wealth ; provided the people of this country could manu- 
facture their wheat at a less cost ; and especially if they 
employed the requisite labor, skill, and capital in some 
pursuit far less productive. A like mode of procedure 
with any other product, is equally impolitic. If, by the 
same amount of outlay of labor, skill, and capital, a great- 
er amount of wealth can be created by the manufacture 
of a raw material than by its production, common sense 
decides at once, that none should be sent abroad, which 
can be manfactured at home. A yankee farmer would 
be considered rather a verdant specimen of his race, who 
should transport his corn twenty miles, and sell it to an- 
other person to convert it into pork at a profit of fifty per 
cent, when he could just as well do that at home himself, 
and had nothing else to do by which to earn one half the 
money. Yet, something like this, do our cotton growers 
and capitalists of the south. 

The proper distribution and application of the elements 
of wealth are important to the creation of any amount of 
wealth, however small. A. is a person of inventive genius. 
He constructs a machine, curious indeed, which excites 
the wonder and admiration of the beholder ; but it is ap- 
plicable to no useful purpose whatever. Here is a mis- 
application of the elements of wealth. Their product is 
stamped with no value. B. can sell but one thousand 
pairs of boots. Yet he manufactures ten thousand pairs. 
Nine thousand, no one wants. They are without value. 
Here, the elements of wealth are misapplied, besides not 
being properly distributed. 



11 

Had A. applied his labor, skill and materials to the 
construction of a machine to serve some useful purpose, 
and had those combined by B. in the nine thousand ex- 
tra pairs of boots been appropriated to a similar object, 
both would have been benefited, wealth would have been 
created, and public good promoted, by their operations. 
As it is, there is a dead loss to themselves, and the pro- 
ducts benefit no one. In fact, they have destroyed 
even the value of the materials, and suffered the loss of 
all the labor. 

A bale of cotton weighs, say four hundred pounds. — 
On the plantation, it is worth, say twenty dollars. It is 
the demand for the article alone which imparts that value 
to it. Thus, this bale of cotton is the representative of 
that amount of wealth created by labor, skill, and mate- 
rials. On its way to market, on its voyage across the 
Atlantic, and, on its passage to the storehouse of the 
manufacturer, its value increases at every step, by the 
expenditures which attend its removal. All this value, 
thus increased, depends eventually on the usefulness of 
the purpose to which the article is to be applied. Finally, 
its market value is again verymuch increased by its con- 
version into cloth, &c., the object of its growth. Thus, 
through all its various stages, from the planting of the 
seed to the sale of the manufactured goods, its value has 
been constantly on the increase, by means of labor, skill, 
and materials, aided by the magic powers of wealth or 
capital previously created by similar means. The seed, 
labor, and skill, as far as cotton is concerned, would have 
been worthless without the land. The cotton would 
have been worthless without conveyance to market. — 
There it would have been worthless without labor and 
skill for its manufacture. Converted into cloth, it would 



12 

have been worthless, but for the demand for the article 
to serve a useful purpose. All these combined, have 
created an amount of wealth equivalent to the full market 
value of the finished article, less the materials used in the 
processs, other than cotton. 

The market value of an article will, at all times, bear 
some relation to the demand for it, and its price will fluc- 
tuate as the supply may be comparatively great or small. 
Hence, it does not follow that, because a single bale of 
cotton may be productive of profit to its producer, every 
man may grow cotton to any amount he chooses, with a 
similar result. The demand for any article — that is, a 
demand that will ensure a profit to the producer — must 
ever, as a general rule, by the general laws of trade, be 
limited by the actual wants of the consumer. All excess 
beyond this, as a general rule, will inevitably reduce 
prices in nearly the same ratio ; and it will usually be 
found that, in the long run, all that has been expended in 
the production of that excess, is virtually lost to the pro- 
ducer ; that is, if the over-supply is continued for a long 
time. Nothing is exempt from this rule. Even gold 
and silver are subject to it ; and each great and perma- 
nent increase of these metals, reduces their permanent 
value in a corresponding ratio. Even temporary fluctua- 
tions in the amount of the circulating medium, are as 
distinctly marked by the rise and fall of interest in the 
transactions between lenders and borrowers, as the fluc- 
tuations in the prices of agricultural crops, in the event 
of a remarkable short crop being succeeded by one ex- 
tremely abundant. The true method then is, so nicely 
to balance the distribution and application of the ele- 
ments of wealth, that demand and supply shall be as 
nearly reciprocal as possible. 

To do this exactly, is, no doubt, impossible ; but it 



13 

should be done as far as practicable, in order to render 
business productive of wealth. 

J^ It does not necessarily follow that, because one man 
may accumulate wealth by the culture of cotton, and an- 
other by its manufacture, one half the community should 
engage in the former process, and the other half in the 
latter. The extent of the business should be regulated 
by the demand in market. It will then be sound, healthy, 
and productive. Every bale of cotton made, and every 
piece of cloth manufactured, beyond this, is so much 
thrown away, because they serve to lessen the value of 
the entire product in the ratio of the overplus. True, 
modes of operation may, from time to time, be devised to 
cheapen the cost of production, and this may also in- 
crease the demand ; because, as a general rule, persons 
will purchase more of a cheap article than of a dear one. 
Still, even in this case, the rule holds good ; for more of 
a cheap article may be produced than can be consumed ; 
and in this case, the business would become as com- 
pletely profitless and ruinous, as though the article were 
dear. But there are wants in the community of great 
number and infinite variety. All want bread, apparel, 
and other articles of living. All want dwellings. All 
want furniture for their dwellings. Almost all want ar- 
ticles for ornament. In short, the wants of all are such 
as to call for the products of a vast many trades and pro- 
fessions ; and the great secret of wealth and prosperity, 
as well as comfort and contentment, consists in the sup- 
ply of all these wants on moderate terms to the consumer, 
and at a profit to those who supply them. No one of 
these results can be attained without a proper distribu- 
tion of labor, skill, and materials, appropriating to each 
branch of industry its proper share, in order to meet 
promptly, all demands ; to proportion prices in the ratio 



14 

of original cost, and not to overstock the market with 
any one product. This is also as necessary to the oper- 
ative and working man as to the employer. As the con- 
sequence of an overstocked market, the workingman and 
operative feel the depression in the reduction of wages, 
and the consequent curtailment of the comforts of life. 
Extreme poverty in the masses, is an actual curse to any 
people, and business should, if possible, be so conducted 
as to prevent it. 

We may now be asked ; — if the proper application of 
the elements of wealth, will ensure the comforts of the 
laboring classes as well as the pecuniary prosperity of the 
employer, and the community, how happens it that the 
manufacturers of Great Britain enrich themselves, while 
a great proportion of the operatives are reduced to a state 
of absolute destitution. The reply is at hand — As a na- 
tion. Great Britain has applied her labor and skill to 
branches of industry which have proved most productive 
of wealth, but, as a people, labor and skill have not been 
properly distributed. It must be recollected that, in 
England and Ireland, most of the lands are monopolized 
by a comparatively few persons, in large tracts. Few 
persons who actually cultivate the earth, have any far- 
ther interest in the soil they till, than simple temporary 
leaseholds, at high rents. The consequence is, few 
farmers are, like ours, able to provide for their children, 
most of whom, as they become able to do anything, are 
under the necessity of going to trades, entering manu- 
factories or coal mines, going to service as servants, be- 
coming inmates of the poor-house, begging, stealing, or 
starving. For this reason, every trade, and every man- 
ufacturing establishment is overstocked ; and as an over- 
supply of labor, like that of every other article, always 
reduces its market value, mechanics' and operatives' 



15 

wages, in England, in the mass, are too low to furnish 
the merest necessaries of life ; while in Ireland, even 
the tiller of the ground is not near as well fed and 
cared for as the slave population of the southern states. 
If land were distributed as in the United States, many 
thousand now paupers, would be engaged in raising agri- 
cultural produce and provisions for themselves and others, 
and for the want of which, thousands suffer. This would 
effect a proper distribution of labor. The number of 
agriculturists would be increased, as well as the neces- 
saries of life — the number of mechanics, operatives, &c., 
would be diminished, and their earnings enhanced. — 
The monopoly of the soil in the hands of the aristocracy, 
and the appropriation of vast tracts to purposes of taste, 
sport, and pleasure, prevents all this. Besides, there is 
the interest and charges on the national debt, |fl30,- 
000,000, already noticed, and the amount of ;g260,000,- 
000 more for the current expenses of government, ma- 
king up in all the enormous sum of ^^390,000,000, to be 
paid annually by taxes and customs, which, from what- 
ever source derived to the government, falls at last on the 
labor of the people. How can it be otherwise, than that 
a people made, in a measure, the serfs of a landed aris- 
tocracy, and having their industry thus taxed, should be 
otherwise than paupers, or the pauper's next door neigh- 
bor ? 

With us, it is different. We have no land monopoly, 
and no royal bantlings and titled aristocracy to support. 
With us, persons may consult their own inclinations, and 
become farmers, mechanics, operatives, or almost any 
thing else they please. A man may apply himself to one 
occupation, and if the lesults do not meet his expecta- 
tions or his wishes, he may turn his hand to another. — 
The facility with which land is obtained, and its small 



16 

cost, induce thousands to become farmers, who would 
otherwise seek other employments. These have no land- 
lords to pocket their earnings, and no national church to 
suck the life-blood from their veins. They are free, in- 
dependent, thrifty, and happy. Hence, agricultural pro- 
ducts become abundant and cheap, and the mechanic and 
operative, instead of being reduced to pauperism by ex- 
treme competition and oppressive taxation, is able to 
supply himself with the comforts of life, and with many 
of what the poor oppressed British workingmen would 
call its luxuries. The British capitalists apply the ele- 
ments of wealth so as to create the greatest aggregate 
product, but in America, though in many cases they 
might be applied in a more productive manner, yet, in 
their distribution, they are far more productive of gen- 
eral good than in Great Britain. For this superiority, 
we have mainly to thank our republican institutions and 
feelings. 

Another important object, in order to operate to the 
best possible advantage in the prosecution of any pro- 
ductive branch of business, is, that the trade or manufac- 
ture should be carried on, at the place where the great- 
est facilities exist, all other things being equal. Such 
has been the policy with respect to British trades and 
manufactures, and such, for obvious reasons, should be 
in this country. In Great Britain, they had no cotton, 
and therefore lacked that facihty. The article was to 
be imported from distant foreign regions, at a heavy ex- 
pense, as it now is. This was, and ever has been, a 
great drawback on the profits of the British manufac- 
turer. But, to make up for this drawback, he has an 
abundance of skill and cheap labor. On the contrary, 
the grower had the raw material and the labor on his 
own plantation, but lacked the skill. Without the 



17 

latter he could not manufacture, and therefore sent his 
cotton to the British market. By that means, he brought 
into requisition the skill and cheap labor of that country, 
and thus enabled her to monopolise, at a great profit, at 
least for a time, the business of manufacturing cotton, and 
to supply the markets of the civilized world with the man- 
ufactured article. In this way the cotton planter has 
aided the British empire, in making very large additions 
to the wealth of the nation. Some idea may be formed 
of the importance of this branch of business in Great 
Britain, when we state that its various departments em- 
brace nearly one half of the external trade of that coun- 
try, and that about l',500,000 persons depend on it for sup- 
port. Under different circumstances, there might have 
been a different result. Had the cotton growing regions 
possessed the British manufacturing skill, and found it 
more profitable to manufacture the raw material than to 
dispose of it in a foreign market, little, if any more, would 
have been produced than could have been manufactured 
at home. Great Britain would then have been deprived 
of the material, one of the essential elements of her great 
wealth, and which she could neither have produced nor 
purchased. At this time, she would have by no means 
been what she is, in point of wealth and greatness. The 
cotton growing regions would have saved to themselves 
the amount paid on their produce, for profits, commissions, 
freights, insurance, Sic. and, till within a few years past, 
heavy duties in British ports. They might have sup- 
plied every market in the world with the manufactured 
fabric, and thereby have realized the profits accruing 
from the manufacturing process^ as well as from that of 
culture. Considering the vast amount of wealth created 
in Great Britain by the manufacture of cotton, what 
3 



18 

might now have been the condition of our own states, 
and especially those of the South, had all our cotton been 
wrought at home, instead of being, in its raw state, tran- 
sported across the Atlantic for a market. In order to il- 
lustrate this point, we will refer to British statistics. 

Except a comparatively small quantity in the East In- 
dies, and an inconsiderable quantity in the AVest Indies, 
no cotton is produced in the British dominions. That 
raised in the East Indies has to be transported twelve 
thousand miles, to reach the manufactory. In fact, the 
entire quantity of cotton supplied to the manufacturers 
of Great Britain, from all the world except the United 
States, is less than one fifth part of the actual consump- 
tion. The remainder is supplied by our own cotton 
growers. In the year 1840, there was entered, at the 
different ports in the kingdom, 592,965,504 pounds. The 
United States furnished 488,572,510 pounds — more than 
four-fifths of the whole. Of the above quantity (592,- 
965,504 lbs.) 531,197,659 pounds was entered for home 
consumption — the remainder, for re-exportation. Sup- 
pose the above to have been all the cotton raised in the 
world — Great Britain must then have curtailed her man- 
ufacturing operations four-fifths, provided the United 
States had manufactured all their own cotton ; that being 
somewhat less than the proportion furnished by them. 

On the supposition here stated, had all the cotton ex- 
ported from this country to Great Britain been manufac- 
tured here, under circumstances similar to those connect- 
ed with manufactures there, it is quite evident that the 
amount of wealth there created by the business, would 
have been added to the wealth of our own country. It 
may be said, there are cotton growing countries, besides 
the United States, and manufacturing countries in Eu- 
rope, other than Great Britain ; and that, consequently, 



19 

the American cotton planter and manufacturer could 
not monopolise the market of the world. Hence, it will 
be said, Great Britain could derive supplies of cotton 
from other sources, and with other manufacturing coun- 
tries which could do the same, still control the markets. 
All this is more easily said than done. 
"fJ^The latest official tabular statement to which we have 
access, of the amount of cotton produced in the world, is 
that made in the office of the United States Secretary of 
the Treasury, in the year 1834, for the use of Congress. 
By this table, which is sufficiently correct for all prac- 
tical purposes, it appears that the total amount of cot- 
ton raised in the world, was 900,000,000 pounds; of 
which 460,000,000 pounds, 10,000 pounds more than 
one half, was the product of the United States. Since 
that period, the culture of the article in the West Indies 
has almost ceased. The production in the East Indies 
rapidly increased during a few subsequent years, owing 
to the very great efforts of the British East India Com- 
pany ; but, from repeated failures, it has again become 
stationary, and will probably never be carried to any great 
extent. In the year 1839, the entire supply of cotton 
from India, was 46,001,308 pounds. It may possibly 
now reach 50,000,000 pounds. The other cotton grow- 
ing countries, viz. Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, and other parts 
of Africa, and Asia, other than India, and a few small- 
er districts, with those named above, made up, in 1834, 
the balance of product, say 440,000,000 pounds. Tak- 
ing all the circumstances into the account, and especially 
the cheapness of the product in this country, and the 
known decline in quantity in some others, it is not proba- 
ble that the foreign product has increased, since 1834, 
more than ten per cent. This would now give 484,000,- 
000 for all the world, the United States excepted. In 



20 

the United States, the result has been enth'ely different. 
The reduction in the market value of the article, has stim- 
ulated the planter to make more of it — to compensate for 
the diminution of price, by the increase of quantity. — 
This is a poor policy, to be sure, in most cases, yet it 
has been extensively practiced by the cotton planters of 
the United States. So greatly have they increased the 
culture of the article, that their crop for 1848 is estimated, 
in round numbers, at 1,000,000,000 pounds; and which 
affords a sure indication, compared with the foregoing 
statements, that all the rest of the world cannot compete 
with them, either in quantity or price. Increasing the 
consumption of the article in Great Britain by ten per 
cent, from the year 1840 to '48, the quantity for the lat- 
ter year would be 584,317,424 pounds; an excess of 
more than 100,000,000 pounds over the entire quantity 
produced in, and exported from, all the countries in the 
world, the United States excepted. France, Germany, 
and other European nations, require about 300,000,000 
pounds ; which, added to the consumption in Great Bri- 
tain, makes the quantity required in Europe, 884,317,425 
pounds. Of this, only 480,000,000 is supplied by India, 
Egypt, Turkey, Brazil, the West Indies, &c. and leaving 
a deficit of more than 400,000,000 pounds, for which Eu- 
rope is entirely dependent on the United States. To 
withhold this supply, would enhance the price in Europe ; ' 
and, though our labor would cost something more than 
theirs, our cotton would be so much cheaper, that no Eu- 
ropean manufacturers could compete with us. Almost 
the only reason why no other country has extended its 
cotton culture as ours has done, is, because no other one 
can raise the article at so small a cost. This circumstance 
has almost annihilated the culture of cotton in the West 
Indies, and prevented its rapid increase in Brazil. The 



21 

British India company, and the viceroy of Egypt, with 
their immense power and resources, have bent their en- 
ergies to the object, but hitherto, all efforts have failed, 
and the cotton planters of the United States still hold 
and maintain their pre-eminence over all those of the rest 
of the world. With all these advantages, the United 
States ought to be, emphatically, the cotton manufactur- 
ers of the world ; and the cotton growing states should be- 
come thegreat cotton manufacturing states of the Union. 
One would think there could be no question that the cot- 
ton grower and cotton manufacturer, combined in one 
concern, with his full supply of the raw material pro- 
duced on his own soil, might under-sell the European 
manufacturer, and control, as far as cotton fabrics were 
concerned, every market in the world. All this may ap- 
pear chimerical to some, and they may be inclined to 
make the inquiry, how is all this to be done ? The re- 
ply is at hand — Manufacture all your own cotton. How 
can we do this, is the next query, when we produce so 
much ? Again the reply is ready — Others now do it for 
you. You have labor, skill and materials — if you wish for 
more of labor and skill, they are readily obtained in suffi- 
cient quantities to manufacture all the cotton in the 
world. But we produce so much. True, too much. — 
Then make a proper distribution and application of labor 
and skill — produce no more than can be manufactured 
at home. Cast not yourselves in a foreign market, with 
a redundancy of an article, begging for a purchaser, on 
the mercy of foreign brokers, speculators, and shavers. 
But more of this by and by. Let us now inquire which, 
in respect to the article of cotton, has made the best dis- 
tribution and application of labor and skill, the United 
States or Great Britain, as far as the creation of wealth 
is concerned ? 



22 

We have seen that, accordmg to the best estimates to 
be obtained, the quantity of cotton imported into the 
Kingdom of Great Britain, and consumed by her manu- 
factories in 1840, was 531,197,659 pounds; of which, 
at least four-fifths must have been supplied by the cotton 
growers of the United States. McCulloch, in his Ency- 
clopedia of Commerce, published in London, for 1847, 
estimates the increase at about fifteen per cent. This 
estimate would make the British consumption of cotton 
at present, 610,877,307 pounds per annum. Allowing 
only the same proportion, or rather less than we have al- 
ready stated, say now four-fifths of the quantity, to be 
supplied from the United States, it will amount to 488, 
701,846 pounds. The present average value of this cot- 
ton in England, is not far from 8 cents per pound ; and 
hence, the aggregate cost, to the British manufacturer, of 
the above quantity received from the United States, 
would be ^39,096,147 68. At this rate, the highest 
amount returned to the American cotton planter, would 
be, say 488,701,846 pounds, at six cents per pound, 
j^28, 922,1 10 76 — for convenience, say, in round num- 
bers, j^30,000,000. The best cotton lands will not 
yield more than three hundred pounds per acre, and the 
general average from year to year, probably does not ex- 
ceed two hundred pounds. Suppose, however, the quan- 
tity to be two hundred and fifty pounds ; there is re- 
quired, 1,794,807 acres of land to produce it; and as the 
product will not average more than 2,500 pounds per 
hand, it will require about 195,480 hands for its culture. 
The land, at ^25 per acre, is worth ^44,870,175. The 
hands (slaves) at ^500 each, are worth ^97,740,000.— 
Thus, the land and slaves together, would amount in 
value to ^142,610,000. The cost of other necessary ap- 
pendages, such as cotton gins, presses, horses, mules, 



&c. &c. will make up at least, with the above, the sum 
of ^150,000,000, as the capital employed in the produc- 
tion of the above amount of cotton furnished to the Brit- 
ish manufacturer. In order to make the estimate high 
enough for the planter, we will suppose his net receipts 
to be 6 cents per pound. At that price, the quantity, 
480,000,000 pounds, will return him, say, in round num- 
bers, ^29,000,000. 

According to the estimate in McCulloch's Encyclope- 
dia of Commerce (English) the value of British cotton 
manufactures for the year 1847, was about £40,000,000. 
The estimated increase for the seven years, from 1833 to 
1840, was 33 1-3 per cent. At that rate, the value in 
1848, would have been about £42,000,000, or $186,- 
666,666, nearly. It is estimated also, that the amount of 
capital invested in the business, is about the same as the 
amount of value of product, per annum. The British 
manufacturers also employ about 300,000 operatives, and 
about the same number of hand-loom weavers. 

For the above amount of product, it has been seen 
that the American cotton planter furnishes about 480,- 
000,000 pounds of the raw material, for, at a high esti- 
mate, $29,000,000. The cotton thus furnished, is four- 
fifths, nearly, of the entire quantity consumed. The cap- 
ital invested in the production of the cotton, is $150,- 
000,000. That invested in the manufacture of it, viz : 
four-fifths of $187,000,000, in round numbers, is $149,- 
600,000. In the ratio of capital, therefore, the planter 
should receive at least $150,000,000 for his product, 
whereas, he receives but $30,000,000. But, the cotton 
which returns 6 cents per pound to the planter, costs the 
British manufacturer 8 1-2 cents. At this price, the 
amount of cost of the cotton, 480,000,000 pounds, is 
$40,800,000. Deduct this amount from $159,600,000, 



24 

the value of the manufactured product, as above, and you 
leave ^^11 8,000,000, as the value added to the above 
quantity of cotton, for which the planter receives but 
^30,000,000 at most, on an outlay of capital very nearly 
equal to that employed by the manufacturer. So much 
as to the productiveness of British capital employed in 
manufacturing cotton, and American capital in producing 
it. Again, in respect to the number of hands employed. 

We have said that the British employed about 300,000 
operatives. To work up four-fifths of the cotton con- 
sumed, would therefore require 240,000. Divide the 
above ^118,000,000 among these, and you have ;§f491 69 
nearly, as the value of product per hand. Again, divide 
the net receipts for the planter's cotton, ^30,000,000, 
among the number of hands, (195,480) required to pro- 
duce it, and you have but ^153 46 per hand — less, by 
j^338 23 per annum, for each hand employed in the pro- 
duction of cotton than is realized by its manufacture in 
Great Britain. True, we have seen that, in the process, 
the British manufacturer employs also 240,000 hand- 
loom weavers ; making the entire number of persons em- 
ployed, 480,000. Well, divide the British net product 
among this whole number, and you have $24>5 84 per 
hand, and leaving yet, an excess of ;^92 38 per hand in 
favor of the manufacture, against the production of the 
raw material. But there are other matters to be taken 
into the account, which will enhance this difference. 

In the first place, the planter employs the labor of 
about half as many horses and mules as field hands. In 
the second place, the cultivators of his cotton fields must 
be his best able-bodied hands ; while two-thirds, at least, 
of the operatives in the cotton mills, are boys and girls. 
In the third place, the planter has to employ the labor of 
such boys and girls many months in the year, to gather 



his crop in the fields. All these, together with other 
matters that might be named in connexion with the cul- 
ture of cotton, and its preparation for market, would very 
nearly cancel the demand for the labor, of the 240,000 
British hand-loom weavers ; and especially when we 
consider that the latter are not employed much over one- 
half their time, and even then at rates of wages which, 
without the aid of public charity, would not prevent star- 
vation. 

It may be said, perhaps, that we have not taken into con- 
sideration the amount of wages paid by the British manu- 
facturer, while, for slave labor, the planter pays none. True 
— -but, be it remembered, the value of the hand is ^500 
at least, the interest on which is ^30 per annum. Then, 
the planter feeds and clothes his hands, furnishes them 
with dwellings and fuel, and with medical attendance in 
time of sickness ; and maintains them when, from old 
age, or other cause, they become unable to labor. Thus, 
the average cost of labor, is probably quite as great to 
the cotton planter, for a given number of hands, as to 
the British manufacturer ; and, reckoning his entire 
number, old and young, male and female, and bringing 
in the amount of labor performed by his mules and horses, 
he has as many to provide for. True, again, the British 
manufacturer has to disburse a small portion of his pro- 
ceeds for other materials than cotton and labor, such as 
coal, oil, starch, &c. But the planter, on the other hand, 
has his land to clear, his bagging and bale rope to fur- 
nish, his cotton to gin, press, and transport to market, 
&c. &c., which meet a great proportion of all the cost of 
manufacturing, except cotton and labor. In short, taking 
everything into the account, the net products and profits 
of manufacturing cotton in Great Britain, will exceed 
4 



26 

those from the culture of cotton for that purpose in the 
United States, by more than one hundred per cent. In 
other words, in the ratio of the profits made on 480,000,- 
000 pounds of cotton manufactured in Great Britain, the 
planter should receive as his net proceeds, at least ^^60,- 
000,000, whereas he receives, at most, but ^30,000,000. 
And why is there this enormous difference. Two re- 
plies are at hand, each of them satisfactory and conclu- 
sive ; and each of them plain and simple. 

In the first place, the planter sends his cotton abroad 
to be manufactured, and thus looses the profits of the 
process, when it might as well be done at home. In 
the second place, he produces a surplus of the article 
every year, sends it to Europe in surplus supplies, has to 
solicit sales, and hence must submit to have purchasers 
make their own prices, and give him for the article just 
what they please. This he may know, from the fact 
that an occasional short crop, or a temporary deficiency 
in the supply, creates a corresponding advance in prices ; 
while, when the demand has been fully cancelled, prices 
fall again to their usual level, and probably below it. — 
Let us now take another view of this subject, and call 
the attention of the cotton planter to the principal manu- 
facturing states in our Union ; and where, we venture 
to predict, he will find the balance against him, as great 
in proportion, as in Great Britain ; although labor is con- 
siderably dearer in this country than in that. Could or 
would the cotton planters of this country, employ all the 
capital and labor, now appropriated to the culture of cot- 
ton, to a business as lucrative as the cotton manufac- 
tures of Great Britain, they would, in the ratio of the 
present market value of that article now shipped to the 
British market, realize at least ,§f 120,000,000 per annum, 



27 

instead of ^30,000,000 now returned to them. This dif- 
ference appears enormous, but such is the fact. 

The entire cotton crop of 1 840, as per official state- 
ments and returns, was 790,479,275 pounds. Assuming 
25 per cent, for the increase since that period, which is 
probably, a near approximation to the truth, the crop of 
1848 was 988,099,093 pounds. Assuming, also, six 
cents per pound as the return to the planter, the entire 
amount realized for the crop was j$f59,285,945 58.- — 
Though persuaded that this estimate is a high one, we 
will yet increase it, and put it down, in round numbers, 
at ^60,000,000, for the sake of convenience. Taking 
our former estimates as a basis, to produce this quantity 
of cotton would require 3,991,036 acres of land, the 
value of which, at ^25 per acre, would be 99,775,900. 
There would also be required, the labor of 395,200 hands. 
The value of this number of able bodied slaves, say as 
before, ^500 each, would be ,$f 197,600,000, and which, 
with the cost of cotton gins, horses, mules, &c. &c., will 
amount to at least ^^300, 000,000. Let us now inquire 
what is done by the appropriation of capital, labor, and 
skill, together with the material, in the cotton mills of 
our principal manufacturing states. 

In five of the New England states, there are employ- 
ed, about 57,000 operatives, manufacturing cotton fabrics. 
The capital employed in the business, is estimated at 
^42,982,120, and the gross product, at ^0,918,143. 
Deduct thirty-three-and-a-third per cent, from the latter 
sum, for cost of all materials, labor excepted, say ;^13,- 
639,381, and you have as the net product of labor, ^27,- 
278,762. This sum is a trifle less than the entire 
amount received by the southern planters for all the cot- 
ton he ships to Great Britain. Yet this is realized on 
the employment of a capital of something less than ;^43,- 



000,000 ; while the planter employes, as has been seen^ 
to produce that cotton, capital in land, slaves, and fix- 
tures, to the amount of ;^150,000,000. The difference 
in the interest on these two sums, per annum, at 6 per 
cent, is no less than ^6,420,000, a very desirable item in 
favor of the eastern manufacturer. Again, to produce 
that result, we have also seen that the planter must em- 
ploy at least, about 1 80,000 hands, able bodied persons ; 
whereas the eastern manufacturer employes only 57,000, 
being less than one third part of the number, and who 
create, by their labor, more wealth than the former. In 
proportion to the capital and labor employed, the planter 
should realize more than thrice the amount of the manu- 
facturer, but does not, in fact, realize quite as much. — • 
Yet, not less than two-thirds of the whole number of 
operatives in cotton mills are women and children.^ — 
These are plain and unembellished facts, based on, and 
borne out by, the most authentic data that can be ob- 
tained ; and which we shall, hereafter, attempt to illus- 
trate more fully, and verify more substantially, by the 
exhibition of practical details and known results, too sim- 
ple to be misconstrued, and too well authenticated to ad- 
mit of doubt. In fact, the superiority in the increase of 
the wealth and population of the manufacturing states, 
compared with that of the cotton growing states, affords 
almost incontestible proof of the fact, that manufactories 
create wealth with much greater rapidity than the cot- 
ton culture — if not, then whence arises the difference ? 
for there certainly is a great difference. Labor and skill 
are more judiciously distributed in the manufacturing 
states than at the south, and more economically applied. 
With the planter, the object is, to work a certain number 
of hands ; to make all the cotton with them that he can, 
and to sell it for what others may be disposed to give. — 



29 

The market is glutted — cotton must be sacrificed at a 
low price. Instead of diverting a portion of his means 
to some other, and more profitable object, he exerts him- 
self to produce more cotton this year, that by increase of 
quantity, he may make up the loss in price ; instead of 
which, he enhances the supply, reduces the price still 
lower, and still continues at the mercy of foreign brokers. 
As a general thing, this is not the way with the people 
of the manufacturing states. Their object is, to pursue 
any certain branch of business no further than it is found 
profitable. When it ceases to be so, they relinquish it, 
and try their hand at some other. For this reason, la- 
bor is properly distributed, and economically applied. In 
other words, people are careful that labor shall be em- 
ployed on objects most productive, and in such a way as 
to ensure the greatest result in the shortest time. So of 
skill, materials, and capital. 

J5^ Would the northern climate admit of the culture of 
cotton, and had a Yankee, in either of the New England 
states, a cotton plantation, with all the requisites for the 
prosecution of the business, the moment he found he 
could make more money by the manufacture of that ar- 
ticle than by its production, it would be farewell to cot- 
ton growing ; and the next thing you would hear on his 
premises, in the way of business, would be the clatter of 
the loom and the hum of the spindle. Yankee folks are 
said to be full of notions ; and such notions constitute 
the great secret of their prosperity. If southern planters 
would act on a similar principle, they would much bene- 
fit themselves. A gentleman well versed in the statis- 
tics of cotton growing in the finest cotton regions of the 
southwest, has calculated that, to supply cotton for a 
mill of 10,000 spindles, say 1,800,000 pounds per an- 
num, would require the product of ten of the best plan- 



30 

tations in the country ; which, with their slaves and fix- 
tures, would be worth ^738,000. The product, as above, 
would amount to ^$'108,000; from which, deduct the 
the cost of operating, such as overseers, materials, car- 
riages, &c., which he estimates at ^28,000, and you 
leave to the planters, ^80,000. The mill to manufacture 
this cotton will cost, with all its machinery complete, 
;^21 0,000, and require a working capital of ^40,000 — or 
say the entire capital, including mill and machinery, 
would, at the outside, be ^250,000. 

To manufacture the above amount of cotton into sheet- 
ings of one yard in width, of the fineness of No. 14, will 
cost, including the cost of the cotton, steam power, 
transportation, insurance, labor, and in fact, every item 
of expense, a little short of ^232,000 ; to which add 
^15,000, the interest of the capital, at six per cent, per 
annum, and you have the entire cost of manufacturing 
the above 1,800,000 pounds of cotton. This cotton \vill 
make 4,500,000 yards of cloth ; which, at 7 1-2 cents 
per yard, a low price, by the way, will be worth ^337,- 
500, leaving a balance, after having paid every expense, 
of about ^106,000. Thus, you see, by the labor of 275 
operatives, mostly women, girls, and boys, there will be 
created, actual wealth to the amount of ^106,000, from 
1,800,000 pounds of cotton, besides the amount paid to 
them for labor. To produce that same cotton, worth in 
market ,^1 08,000, required the labor of no less than 
600 able bodied hands, besides one half that number of 
horses and mules. The capital employed to produce 
this result, is ^738,000. The manufacturer's capital is 
but ;^250,000. If, therefore, the planter could by any 
means, remove these plantations into one of the New 
England states, with all their slaves, fixtures, &c., and 
they should continue to produce cotton as abundantly 



31 

as on the Mississippi or Tombigbee, though now nom- 
inally worth towards a million of dollars, the owner of 
the cotton mill which cost but ^250,000, would not ex- 
change it for them, and would evidently be a loser by 
the bargain if he should. This will at once appear ob- 
vious, when we state that, over and above the cost of 
working the plantations, already named, there would be 
expended, for overseers, &c. ^20,000 more ; and reducing 
the net income to ^88,000 — less, by ^18,000, than the 
net product of the cotton mill. Under these circum- 
stances, the mill owner would much rather keep his mill, 
and employ his hired operatives, than to take in exchange 
the plantations with their slaves &c. The reason — he 
can make the most money by his mill. But this com- 
parison applies not only to a cotton mill in Massachu- 
setts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Connecticut, 
but even in the best cotton growing state, at the side of 
the best cotton plantation in that state. This statement 
requires no labored argument to confirm it. Every 
species of property designed for the creation of wealth, 
is valuable in the ratio of its productiveness, without re- 
spect to its actual cost. One plantation may have cost 
fifty thousand dollars, and require an outlay of twenty 
thousand dollars per annum to work it. Another may 
have cost twenty thousand dollars and be worked at an 
expense of only live thousand dollars. Without respect 
to this difference of cost and expenditure, every one 
knows that, if the cheaper establishment yield a greater 
product than the other, it is, of course, of most value to 
its possesser. Thus, if a planter own cotton lands which 
cost, with all his slaves and fixtures ,^700,000, or more, 
and yield a net profit of ^80,000 per annum, the cotton 
mill at his side, the capital of which is but ^250,000 in- 
cluding the cost of the establishment itself, which yields 



32 

a net profit of ;^1 00,000, is, intrinsically worth more to 
its posessor than the planter's cotton lands and slaves. 
Every planter knows this common place statement to be 
true. But, after having admitted all this, the cotton 
planters and capitalists of the south raise the inquiry — 
Suppose we wished to go into the manufacturing busi- 
ness, though we have plenty of the raw material, how 
shall we obtain the labor and skill qualified for the work, 
and of both which we are deficient ? 

Up to the year 1767, not a pound of cotton had ever 
been spun in any part of the world, by machinery. — 
Though a considerable quantity was manufactured in 
India, and some in England, yet all was done with the 
aid of the old spinning-wheel and hand-loom, precisely 
as is now the case with the families of our southern 
planters. When, therefore, Hargreaves in '67, and Ark- 
wright in '69, brought out the spinning-jenny, only eighty 
years since, Great Britain possessed neither the requisite 
labor or skill, trained to the business, nor yet the practi- 
cal cotton machine builder, nor the raw material. All 
these were to be created and inducted into the business. 
But British enterprise did not falter. The business was 
taken in hand, and prosecuted with vigor. In the course 
of four years, it was in successful operation. From that 
time to the present. Great Britain has lacked neither 
manufacturing labor, skill, nor materials. The results of 
the business, at the present time, we have already seen. 
About sixty years since, not a solitary cotton spindle had 
been made or driven in America. It is doubtful if many 
persons had ever seen one. About that period an attempt 
was made on a small scale, to spin cotton with machinery 
in Rhode-Island, but failed for want of proper skill. This, 
however, was not long wanting. The arrival, in this 
country, of the celebrated manufacturer, Slater, sup- 



33 

plied the deficiency, and we have now only to look 
around, and to examine the statistics of trade in this 
country, to learn the great results of the truly wonder- 
working power of the cotton spindle and the loom. At 
the time the process of cotton spinning by machinery 
was first introduced into New England, the people might 
have laughed at the idea, and said, how shall we, entire- 
ly unaccustomed to building and operating cotton ma- 
chinery, obtain the skill, and train the labor for the work ? 
But others, far seeing and shrewd, came to the conclu- 
sion, and their conclusion was the correct one, applica- 
ble in all cases, that you have but to open a productive 
field, and there will be labor and skill enough found to 
cultivate it. The issue has proved the truth of the con- 
viction. Those aids have never been required but they 
have been at hand. And should the number of mills in 
the United States be doubled within twelve months, 
probably not one of them would have to delay, for a day, 
the commencement of manufacturing operations, in con- 
sequence of a defficiency of labor and skill. A vast pro- 
portion, if not all required, would undoubtedly be found 
among us. If not, the first demand would call from 
Great Britain, as many of her now half starved and 
starving operatives as might be required. But, without 
calling for aid from Europe, a full supply may at all times 
be obtained in New England, to manage and supervise 
the operations of the cotton mill, and there are thousands 
of persons at the south, who would gladly and gratefully 
accept such employment, to earn a livelihood much su- 
perior to that which their present means can possibly 
afford ; and would quickly become qualified for the work 
of operatives, under the charge and direction of good su- 
perintendents and managers. There is nothing hypo- 
5 



34 

thetical in this statement. Experience has shown it to 
be true to the letter. 

As respects all raw materials, especially those of a 
bulky character, economy dictates that, all other things 
being equal, they should be wrought on the spot on 
which they are produced, in order to make the most val- 
uable return. For instance — iron ore — a material abun- 
dant in Russia and Sweeden. Were that material to be 
shipped to this country in its crude state, there would be 
a heavy charge for the transportion of the foreign matter 
combined with the metal, which must eventually be 
borne by the original owner. And all that the iron would 
bring in this market, after having been smelted and 
manufactured into bars, over and above the cost of the 
ore, would be so much wealth created here. The extra 
charge for freight is saved, and the additional value of 
the iron is retained at home, by its being manufactured 
on the spot on which the ore is found. Of this, the orig- 
inal owner takes his share, and the balance is distributed 
for labor, &c., in the community. That community is 
enriched by so much, therefore, in consequence of the 
operation. There may be some exceptions to this rule, 
but, from what we have seen, there is none in favor of 
the transportation of cotton to a distant market. The 
rule is founded on a general law. Labor and skill are 
marketable commodities. These, like all other commod- 
ities, will, as a general thing, seek the best market. — 
Suppose all the labor and skill at hand, are necessary to 
the production of a quantity of cotton sufticient to sup- 
ply the demand of the manufacturer — the planter then 
would manufacture his own produce, but lacks the me- 
chanical skill. Let it be known that he is in want of an 
engineer, managers, overseers, operatives, machinists, 
carpenters, masons, &:c. for the purpose, and you will 



36 

soon see that, instead of finding it difficult to obtain such, 
he will, very probably, be overrun with applications. In 
a comparatively short period, hundreds of factories might 
be erected and started at the south, and fully supplied 
with every description of skill and labor wanted. Thou- 
sands would resort there with the hope of doing better 
by a change, induced by the prospects which new enter- 
prises in a profitable business hold out, of permanent em- 
ployment, with higher wages. Even should the planter 
who goes into the manufacture of cotton, find it neces- 
sary to import his operatives from Europe at his own ex- 
pense, he would still be a great gainer by the transac- 
tion. In a mill of ten thousand spindles, he would re- 
quire two hundred and seventy-five persons. Suppose 
he should procure them in England, and pay the expense 
of transporting them thence to this country, at fifty dol- 
lars each. The transportation of the whole would 
amount to ^13,150. This would be once for all. An- 
other such transaction would never be necessary. His 
mill will also require, as seen, 1,800,000 pounds of cot- 
ton. To place that cotton in a northern manufactory, 
will cost, including every charge, at least one cent per 
pound, or j$fl 8,000. This amount all comes into the 
cost of manufacturing in the northern mill, and goes, of 
course, into the price of the manufactured article. This 
amount will therefore be saved by southern planters who 
manufacture their own cotton. It pays, in one year, all 
the cost of transporting the above number of operatives, 
from England, and leaves a balance of ^4,250. But the 
operation of the transportation of cotton goes on from 
year to year, at the annual cost of ^18,000. We will 
now go somewhat more into detail on this subject. 

The cotton from the planter, reaches the northern man- 
ufactory increased one cent per pound in its market value, 



36 

by the expenses incurred in transitu. Allowing the 
planter's price to be six cents per pound, its cost to the 
manufacturer will be seven. The pound of cotton, less 
waste, will make two and eight-tenths yards of sheeting, 
No. 14, one yard in width, worth, at the present low 
prices, 7 1-2 cents per yard, or 21 cents per pound. — 
The raw material, however, is subjected to a loss of ten 
per cent, in the process of manufacturing, so that the 
weight of the manufactured article from 1,800,000 pounds 
of raw cotton, will turn off but about 1,600,000 pounds 
of cloth. Thus — 1,800,000 pounds of cotton, at 7 cents, 
costs :^ 126,000. The entire cost of manufacturing, is 
^121,000, including labor, and interest on the capital; 
and making, with the cost of cotton, ^247,000. The 
quantity of the manufactured article will be 1 ,600,000 lbs. 
at 21 cents per pound, or 7 1-2 cents per yard. This is 
worth, at that rate, ^336,000. From this sum, deduct 
the cost, as above, and you leave, as a balance in fa- 
vor of the manufacturer, the sum of ;^89,000. This 
is the gross income for one year ; with the labor of 275 
operatives, mostly boys and girls, and a capital of ;^250,- 
000. From the above amount of ^89,000 however, 
there are certain other expenses to be deducted, such as 
commissions, guaranties, &c. which will somewhat re- 
duce it ; but yet, the amount left will be much greater, 
taking all things into account, than the net proceeds to 
the planter from the raw material. 

To produce the cotton for the foregoing operation, as 
already noticed, the planter employs 600 able-bodied 
hands, and nearly one-half that number of horses and 
mules, and a capital of at least ^^730,000. The interest 
on this capital is ^43,800 per annum, or ^28,800 more 
than the interest on the manufacturing capital ; and the 
labor is more than that employed in the manufactory, 



37 

reckoning that of man and beast on the plantation, by 
three hundred per cent. Thus, the capital and labor 
necessary to the production of 1,800,000 pounds of cot- 
ton, would be sufficient to erect, furnish, and operate, 
three cotton mills, each of which would manufacture into 
cloth, this entire quantity of cotton, and each of which 
would also return, in the shape of gross income, several 
thousand dollars more, per annum, than is now realized 
from the entire amount of labor and capital employed to 
produce cotton for one of them ! It must also be borne 
in mind, that the manufacturer at the north receives his 
cotton enhanced one cent per pound above the planta- 
tion price, which makes the gross amount of the addition- 
al cost, ^18,000 per annum. This would of course be 
saved by the manufacture of the article on the spot of its 
growth, and would go to increase the profits of the oper- 
ation. 

Were there room for a rational doubt on this subject, 
the reader might be justified in regarding it with some 
degree of scepticism. But, when he reflects on the well 
known fact, of the much more rapid increase of capital 
and wealth in the manufacturing community, than in 
that of the cotton planter, he will be constrained to ac- 
knowledge that the effect cannot be without a sufficient 
cause. That cause he will seek for in vain, unless he 
find it in the greater profits of manufacturing, compared 
with those of producing the raw material. 

To confirm this statement, we annex a schedule, made 
up, not from estimates either hypothetical or theoretical ; 
but from authentic data of actually practical results, 
drawn from a mill now in operation. These results 
have occurred during the past year, being one of the 
worst known in the manufacturing annals of the United 
States. 



Cotton— 1,800,000 pounds, at 7 cents, ^'126,000 
Cost of Power, (steam,) . - - 4,500 
Do. Carding, - - - - 13,266 

Do. Spinning, _ - - - 14,734 

Do. Dressing and Starch, - - 9,306 

Do. Weaving, including all expenses, 26,598 
Do. Repairs, wear and tear, machinists, 

&c., ----- 17,002 

Do. General expenses, officers' salaries, 

transportation, &;c., - - 20,642 

Do. Interest on capital of ^50,000. 15,000 

Total, ;$237,048 

Against this sum, which includes the entire cost of 
manufacturing, we have 4,500,000 yards of No. 14 sheet- 
ing, the product of the mill, worth now 7 1-4 cents per 
yard, ------ ^326,250 

From this last amount, deduct the cost, as above, 237,048 



And you have a balance of - - - ^89,202 
As the gross profits to the manufacturer, subject to the 
deductions for commissions &c. before named, on 1,800,- 
000 pounds of cotton, after having paid for the cotton, 
and the cost of manufacturing ; while the planter who 
produced that cotton, receives but ^108,000 ; being more, 
by only ^18,888, than that received by the manufacturer. 
Yet, from that sum, viz : ^^1 08,000, the planter has to 
pay all the cost of production, together with all incidental 
expenses, besides the interest on his capital. 

Facts like these should fix the attention of the cotton 
planter, teach him his true interest, and stimulate him to 
become the manufacturer of the product of his field, in- 
stead of permitting others to reap the entire profit. Yet, 
he acts differently. The small profits derived from his 



39 

cotton fields, after the deduction, from the gross receipts, 
of a sum sufficient to cover the cost and the incidental 
expenses, are generally appropriated to the extension of 
agricultural operations, and the production of more cotton ; 
of which there is already too much. He neglects the 
main chance, and delves on from year to year, to build 
up European and New England manufacturing cities, 
towns, and villages, and to enhance their wealth, when 
he might as well secure a due share of these benefits to 
himself. 

'C/Ifj say many persons at the south, we had the capital 
so abundant at the north, we could then embark in the 
manufacturing business with some prospect of success ; 
but our means are mostly in lands and slaves, and the 
money capital is deficient for the purpose. This objec- 
tion, however plausible, is unsound. It rests on a mista- 
ken view of the subject. What has created the large 
capital in the munufacturing states ? A portion of it is 
without doubt the fruits of agriculture and commerce ; 
but by far the greater part is, either directly or indirectly, 
the production of manufactures ; not only of cotton, but 
of various other materials. The New England States for 
instance, named in a preceding page, though in a pros- 
perous condition, compared with former times, had, at 
the commencement of the cotton manufacturing era, 
scarcely money capital sufficient to prosecute their com- 
mercial and agricultural pursuits. But they did not hes- 
itate on that account. A rich field for operations present- 
ed itself, and, money or no money, people determined to 
enter and cultivate it. Of course, a portion of capital had 
to be withdrawn from other pursuits, and some debts to 
be contracted ; but this procedure was fully warranted 
by the prospect presented, and as fully justified by the 
result. New England might have hesitated to embark 



40 

in manufacturing enterprises, on the plea of a deficiency 
of capital, and continued to this time, to devote herself 
entirely to agriculture and commerce to augment that 
capital. And what would have been the result. She 
would not now, as all circumstances past and present go 
to show, possess one-half the wealth she does, nor proba- 
bly more than two-thirds of her present population. The 
truth is, the small means and the credit first embarked, 
were increased ; the whole was again enhanced by new 
operations ; and so it has continued, till the amount of 
capital now invested in manufactures, of various descrip- 
tions, and the wealth that has been created by them, are 
probably much greater than the entire value of the now 
manufacturing states was at the commencement of these 
operations. 

In the year 1 839, according to the data appended to the 
United States Census of 1840, there were in operation, 
in Maine, 29,736 cotton spindles — in New Hampshire, 
195,173 — in Massachusetts, 669,095 — in Rhode-Island, 
518,817 — in Connecticut, 181,319 — making, in all, 
1,590,140 cotton spindles in operation in those five states, 
at that time. Since that period the number has been in- 
creased twenty per cent, at least ; and there can there- 
fore not be a less number now, than about 2,000,000, 
nearly. The manufacture of cotton was commenced in 
Rhode-Island about 1791, but its progress for many years 
was extremely slow. We will assume the year 1810, 
as our starting point, at which time it had begun to put 
on the appearance of some importance. Thus, reckon- 
ing to the close of 1 849, we have a range of forty years. 

Again, assuming that in 1810, there were 50,000 spin- 
dles in operation, then the medium or average number 
for forty years, would be something over 900,000. Dis- 
tribute these in 90 mills of 10,000 spindles each, and 



41 

■each mill creatino; wealth at the rate of ^100,000 per an- 
num, or, which is the same thing, adding that amount to 
the value of raw material ; and which is nearly one-third 
less than the amount stated for the mill before alluded to, 
and we have ^4,000,000 in forty years. Hence, the 
ninety mills would add, and probably have added, at 
least ^360,000,000 of wealth, or capital, to the commu- 
nity, in forty years, by means of the combined operations 
of labor, skill, and materials, aided by capital and credit. 
It is true, there have been fluctuations in the business, 
and occasional failures ; as there are, and ever will be in 
the most lucrative business ever known. But most per- 
sons who have entered into this have made money by it ; 
and, at any rate, failures or no failures, the wealth created 
by it is in the community — the product of labor, skill, 
and materials — and if the foregoing estimates are within 
the limits of truth, and they are believed to be, then, by 
cotton manufactures alone, the above five states have ad- 
ded to the stock of wealth no less than ,^360,000,000 I 
Permit us now to inquire — Have the whole ten cotton 
planting states done as much by the culture of their sta- 
ple production, or any thing like it, in proportion to the 
labor, skill, materials, and capital, employed ? Let the 
comparative estimates on the culture of cotton, and its 
manufacture, in the foregoing pages, furnish the reply. 
Such as has been stated, is the example set by New 
England, though commencing with a deficient capital 
even for her ordinary pursuits ; with her system of credit 
to aid, in the production of the most valuable returns 
from the labor, skill, and real capital of the country. — 
Can any reason, even a plausible one, be given, why 
southern people should not do the same ? Their means 
are more abundant than were those of New England at 
6 



42 

the commencement of the cotton manufacturing business 
in this country. All that is wanted is enterprise. There 
certainly could be no sufficient reason why a number of 
planters, having available property of the value of half a 
million dollars, could not raise on that property, the sum 
of two hundred and fifty thousand, to prosecute a busi- 
ness, the profits of which would be almost certain to re- 
turn one hundred per cent, on the outlay, in the short 
space of two or three years at farthest. Especially might 
they do this, when known, as known it is by practical 
experience, that that business would probably enhance 
the value of the property in possession, fifty to one hun- 
dred per cent. Southern planters, considered men of 
wealth, find little or no difficulty in extending their credit 
to any desirable amount, in the purchase of land or slaves, 
or both. It would be quite as easy for them to do so, if 
necessary, to erect manufactories, and their credit and 
funds would, in such case, be applied to an object much 
more productive. 

But, it is not only the benefit to be derived in a direct 
manner to the individual manufacturer, that holds out a 
strong inducement to the south to go largely into the 
business, nor yet, alone, the prospect of enriching a com- 
munity as a body. Motives of philanthrophy and hu- 
manity enter into the calculation ; and these should not 
be disregarded. This is a subject on which, though it 
demands attention, we would speak with delicacy. It 
is not to be disguised, nor can it be successfully contro- 
verted, that a degree and extent of poverty and destitu- 
tion exists in the southern states, among a certain class 
of people, almost unknown in the manufacturing districts 
of the north. The poor white man will endure the evils 
of pinching poverty, rather than engage in servile labor 
under the existing state of things, even were employment 



43 

offered him ; which is not general. The white female is 
not wanted at service, and if she were, would, however 
humble in the scale of society, consider such service as a 
degree of degredation to which she could not descend ; 
and she has therefore no resource, but to suffer the pangs 
of want and wretchedness. Bojs and girls, by thousands, 
destitute both of employment and of the means of educa- 
tion, grow up to ignorance and poverty, and too many of 
them to vice and crime. This picture is no exaggeration. 
It is strictly true in all its details. The writer lias no 
disposition to reproach the wealthy for the existence of 
such a state of things. He is well aware that it is the 
result of circumstances which have, to them, been una- 
voidable. But he cannot resist the conviction that, when 
a fitting opportunity presents itself to the wealthy men 
of the south to obviate those evils, at least in a degree, 
and that even in a way to benefit themselves, they can 
hardly be held guiltless in case of refusal or neglect to 
apply the remedy. 

The writer knows, from personal acquaintance and 
observation, that poor Southern persons, male and fe- 
male, are glad to avail themselves of individual efforts to 
procure a comfortable livelihood, in any employment 
deemed respectable for white persons. They make ap- 
plications to cotton mills where such persons are wanted, 
in numbers much beyond the demand for labor ; and 
when admitted there, they soon assume the industrious 
habits, and decency in dress and manners, of the opera- 
tives in Northern factories. A demand for labor in such 
establishments, is all that is necessary to raise this class 
from want and beggary, and, too frequently, moral de- 
gradation, to a state of comfort, comparative indepen- 
dence, and moral and social respectability. Besides this, 
thousands of such would naturally come together as resi- 



44 

dents in manufacturing villages, where, with very little 
trouble and expense, they might receive a common school 
education, instead of growing up in profound ignorance. 
I would therefore appeal to the planter of the South, as 
well as to every other capitalist. Let your attachment 
to your own interest, and the interest of the community, 
united with love for your species, combine to stimulate 
you to enter with resolution, this field of enterprise, and 
to cultivate it with the full determination not to be out- 
done. You must succeed. 

In a political point of view, the extensive prosecution 
of the manufacturing business at the South, is of vast 
moment. That the political ascendency of the South, in 
the councils of the nation, has been neutralized, events 
plainly show. That it will be greatly overbalanced is a 
fact as certain as that the increase of population in the 
North, East, and West, shall exceed that of the South. 
A reference to the official tables, to be sure, will show 
that during the last thirty or forty years, the increase in 
the cotton growing states, exceeds, in some measure, the 
ratio of that in the five manufacturing states which we 
have named ; and they show an almost unprecedented in- 
crease in the new states of Alabama, Missouri, Mississip- 
pi and Louisiana. But, as respects the point alluded to, 
these tables are altogether deceptive. The creation of 
several new states has, to be sure, increased the number 
of Southern votes in the United States Senate, by add- 
ing ten or twelve to the number, but, then, there are to 
oifsett against these, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Wiscon- 
sin, to say nothing of Maine, Ohio, Illinois ; and others 
which will soon follow ; so that the balance of power, 
even in the Senate, will be against the South. The ra- 
pid increase of population in the four cotton growing 
states named, changes not the relative position of affairs 



45 

as to the popular representation in the lower house of 
Congress, or at most, changes it in no material degree. 
Those states have all been settled by persons of other 
Southern states ; and scarce a family can be found in 
them, except here and there a trader in the country, or 
those in the commercial towns, but such as are emi- 
grants from the Carolinas, or other states of the South, 
or their descendants. Had therefore those states never 
been settled, the popular representative strength of the 
South would have been but little less than at present. — 
But how is it with the four manufacturing states named ? 
By the tables, their increase of population is less than 
that of the South, in proportion. But, if the real increase 
be the object in view, a large portion of it must be sought 
for in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee, and the southern trading ports. But 
we take only the four states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, 
and Illinois, for the comparison. The first of these 
states, Ohio, was originally settled almost exclusively, by 
people from New England, and the present American 
born citizens, now resident within her borders, are most- 
ly New England people, or their descendants. Michi- 
gan, Indiana, and Illinois, also received a large portion of 
their original settlers from the same source, together with 
probably, a large number of the offshoots of New Eng- 
land families in Ohio, or elsewhere in the western coun- 
try. Let us see how the case now stands. The eight 
following cotton growing states, viz. North and South 
Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Al- 
abama, and Louisana, contained [Mississippi in 1816] in 
1810, a population of 1,637,093, including slaves. In 
the year 1840, the population of the same states amount- 
ed to 4,374,362 ; being an increase of 2,737,269— equal 
to a fraction less than one hundred and seventy-three per 



46 

cent. At the former period, the six New England States, 
after large drafts on their population to settle the new re- 
gions of the west, contained a population of 1,471,973. 
In 1840, with a tide of emigration still flowing west- 
ward, the population had increased to 2,245,822, being 
an increase of 762,849 — equal to about fifty-two per 
cent. In 1810 the population of Ohio, Michigan, In- 
diana, and Illinois together, was 272,080 ; which, added 
to that of New England, made up an aggregate of 
1,744,063. In 1840, those four northwestern states, 
had a population, in the aggregate of 2,894,783 ; which, 
added to the population of the New England states at 
the same period, makes up the aggregate of 5,129,605 — 
and the increase on the ten states being an aggregate 
increase, in those states of 3,385,542 — equal to one hun- 
dred and eighty-three per cent, on the population of 
1810, and in the ratio of ten per cent, over that of the 
cotton growing states. We have not sufficient data to 
enable us to include Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, in 
this calculation, and therefore offset them against Iowa, 
Wisconsin, and other settlements made by Northern peo- 
*ple. From the foregoing statements, it appears very evi- 
dent that the relative political strength of the south must 
continually decline ; or rather that that of the North will 
increase in the greatest ratio, until the south shall adopt 
some method besides that of agriculture to remedy the 
difficulty. But the case presents itself in a still stronger 
light, when we reflect that, at least thirty-three and one- 
third per cent, of the increase in southern population takes 
place with the slaves, and only two-fifths of which go to 
increase the representative power. The writer will haz- 
ard the assertion, that this state of things will never find 
a remedy, so long as the south persists in her present 
impolitic course, of purchasing, from abroad, every man- 



47 

ufactured article which she requires, from a penny jews- 
harp, or a yard of shirting, to a steam engine. We have 
already shown conclusively, that, to manufacture cotton, 
is far more profitable than to produce it for sale. So is 
the manufacture of almost every other article. Of course, 
the business can afford better prices for labor and skill ; 
and hence, where manufactures are found, there also 
these seek employment ; and thus is population increased 
over and above the increase by natural causes. We can 
farther illustrate this fact by reference to the manufactur- 
ing states themselves. 

In 1820, the state of Massachusetts contained 523,- 
287 inhabitants. Manufacturers had received a severe 
shock by the termination of the war with Great Britain 
in 1814, though, at the above period, they had partially 
recovered from its effect. Little or no onward progress 
had however been made in the business, and cotton mills 
were few in number, and those, of small capacity. Du- 
ring the succeeding period of ten years, the manufactur- 
ing business was commenced at Lowell, and some other 
places in the state, and made rapid advances, though it 
met with one severe revulsion in 1 828 and '29. During 
these ten years, up to 1830, the population of the state 
had risen to 610,408 ; an increase of 86,121 — equal to 
about sixteen and one-half per cent. But, as the busi- 
ness continued to increase, notwithstanding the disas- 
trous crisis of 1836 and '37, the population of 1840 was 
737,699; an increase of 127,291, or nearly twenty-one 
per cent. From the year 1820 to 1830, the population 
of Rhode-Island increased fourteen per cent., but from 
1 830 to '40, the increase was but about ten per cent. — 
The cause of the difference between the ratios of in- 
crease in the last ten years named, in the two states, as 
far as manufactures were concerned, was owing to tlie 



48 

fact that the water power in Rhode-Island had become 
so far exhausted as to admit of but little extension of the 
business ; while at Lowell, and many other situations in 
Massachusetts, the manufacturers were, as they still are, 
extending it on every hand. Besides, Massachusetts is 
a much larger and better field for agricultural pursuits 
than Rhode-Island ; and manufactories having so strong 
and direct a tendency to enhance the value of agricultur- 
al products in their vicinity, this alone helps very much 
to swell the mass of population . In fact, every interest 
in the state is promoted. Manufactories increase the 
demand for agricultural products, and every branch of 
mechanical industry ; and both of which will therefore 
bear remunerating prices. They create a great deal of 
business for mechanical men and traders, of all descrip- 
tions. They encourage, foster, and, in a great measure, 
pay for, public improvements. They increase the wealth 
of a community, more rapidly than any other branch of 
business. And, though last, not least, they prevent in a 
great degree, the evils of extreme indigence and pauper- 
ism, by furnishing to all, the means of supplying them- 
solves with the comforts of life through the medium of 
their own industrial efforts. Most certainly, all these 
benefits are worthy of a trial, by the people of the south, 
to secure them. The south produces the raw material 
for the cotton mill in abundance — she has but to say the 
word, and labor and skill will as readily offer themselves 
to convert it into cloth on the spot, as ships do to trans- 
port it to New-England, or to Europe. In the very na- 
ture of things, the south ought to become the greatest 
seat of cotton manufactures in the world. I 

One of the most forcible objections heretofore urged 
by southern gentlemen against the location of cotton 
manufactories among them, is, the deficiency of motive 



power, from the absence of waterfalls, and permanent 
streams. Suppose you have no motive power — make it. 
You have the means, and the most important materials in 
abundance. While the southern people have, in some 
parts, declared their inability to manufacture cotton, from 
the deficiency of motive power, those in some other parts 
have long been engaged in cutting timber into planks, 
boards, and scantling, for market, by the power of steam, 
at a cost so trifling that they would scarcely accept the 
best water power as a gift. For a still longer series of 
years, the British manufacturer has been engaged in 
working up the cotton of southern planters, carried near 
four thousand miles to find a market. And that manu- 
facturer has driven his machinery during that time by 
means of steam power, which has cost him, as far as steam 
is concerned, double the amount at least that the same 
would cost in any Southern county. In New England, 
to be sure, and especially, in the interior, with the high 
prices we have to pay for wood and coal, the manufactur- 
er might well have hesitated to adopt steam power be- 
fore the modern improvements had reduced the amount 
required for a given purpose, more than fifty per cent. — 
But, under present circumstances, even in New-England, 
the profitable use of steam power for manufacturing pur- 
poses, is no longer an unsolved problem. Many mills are 
now driven by steam, and to as great profit to say the 
least, as water mills. 

The practical test has been applied here in more than 
one case, and the question settled beyond the reach of 
doubt. We will cite the attention of the reader to two 
mills in particular, for proofs that, even in New-England, 
where anthracite coal commands the high price of five 
dollars per ton, equivalent to about six dollars per cord 
7 



50 

for wood, the manufacture of cotton can be profitably 
prosecuted by means of steam power. One of these 
mills makes cloth No. 30. This cloth averages about 
one yard wide, and weighs 3 75-100 yards to the pound ; 
and the cost of steam for the manufacture of it, is one 
mill and a half to the yard of cloth. The other mill 
makes cloth No. 14, [sheeting] 2 70-100 yards to the 
pound, and the cost of steam power is a fraction over two 
mills for a yard of cloth. These cloths, it is known and 
conceded by all who are acquainted with them, command 
ready sales in market, at prices so much higher than any 
cloths of similar numbers manufactured in the best mills 
driven by water power, that the difference will twice 
pay for the cost of the steam power used in their fabri- 
cation. This fact is readily accounted for. In the first 
place, machinery can be driven by steam with a more 
equable and uniform motion, than by water. This im- 
parts to the cloth a more equable and uniform texture. 
In the second place, the manufacture of cotton requires 
a certain degree of humidity in the atmosphere, as well 
as a proper degree of warmth. Having plenty of steam at 
hand, such a state of the atmosphere is always and readi- 
ly attainable, and easily kept up. The consequence is, 
the cotton is smoothly and evenly wrought, and the 
goods will accordingly present a more beautiful finish. 

The past year has been a hard and trying season for 
manufacturers ; the hardest perhaps, all things considered, 
they have ever passed through. During that period, the 
mills alluded to above have made more money, according 
to their number of spindles, than any two mills in this 
section of the country, driven by water power. The cost 
of steam power varies with the cost of fuel. Water 
power decreases in value, in proportion as it is taxed with 
the cost of transportation for cotton, coal, &c. In fact, 



61 

I would much rather pay the cost of steam power con- 
tiguous to navigable waters, than to have water power 
gratis; should the latter be taxed with the cost of twenty 
miles of inland transportation. 

In the cotton growing states, fuel for the generation of 
steam power is abundant, and its cost is scarcely more 
than one tenth part of its cost in New-England. Why 
then should not the South, even if utterly destitute of 
water power, manufacture at least a considerable portion 
of the cotton grown in her own fields ? The bare sav- 
ing in transportation, commissions, and fuel, when com- 
pared with the amount they cost the manufacturer in New 
England, would twice cover the cost of steam power at 
the South, including engine, repairs, the pay of engineer, 
and, in fact, all incidental expenses. I repeat the in- 
quiry then — Why should not the South become the man- 
ufacturer of her own product? She would thus retain to 
herself, at least a considerable portion of the many ad- 
vantages now derived from it by others. For one, the 
writer can assign no other reason why this is not done, 
than inattention to, and neglect of, the most certain and 
infallible means to promote the best interests of the com- 
munity. 

On the score of economy, there are many things which 
enter into the account in favor of steam as a motive 
power for manufacturing purposes. It can be used where 
one pleases ; and he may have much or little, as circum- 
stances may require. Not so with water power. He 
must go to that, and take it as it is — much or little — 
sometimes, perhaps, too much — a flood: at other times, 
too little — a drought. With steam power he may go into 
a city, town, or village ; where he may find dwellings, 
and most other requisites, at hand. But, with water 
power, especially if in its unimproved state, he will have 



52 

dams, race-ways, flumes, and wheel-pits, to construct, 
and expensive foundations for his buildings ; before the 
water can be used. And to all these expenses, you must 
add the cost of building up a town or village on such a 
water privilege, and which must be done, to accommo- 
date the managers, operatives, and business, of the fac- 
tory. These expenditures divert much of the capital 
from the business of the manufacturing department ; and 
when capital is not abundant, it is desirable to make the 
most of what we have. 

If there are, at the South, central and healthy loca- 
tions, having large, permanent, and available water pow- 
er, it may be well to use it. On the other hand, there 
are very many places destitute of it, where towns and 
villages already exist, the business of which has from 
some cause fallen off, and in which the manufacture of 
cotton by steam power might be prosecuted to great ad- 
vantage. In such a place, a steam cotton mill would, in 
the course of eighteen months, return to the community 
an amount of wealth absolutely created by the labor and 
skill of its operatives, fully equal to the amount of capi- 
tal invested. This may seem a large statement, but a 
glance at facts will substantiate it. Suppose the mem- 
bers of a community should tax themselves in the sum of 
^250,000, to build such a mill as we have alluded to. 
Then, there will be required, 1,800,000 pounds of cotton 
per annum ; and 4,500,000 yards of cloth will be the 
product. Reckon the cloth at the very low price of seven 
cents yer yard, and the product will be worth ^315,000. 
The cotton, at six cents per pound, will be ^108,000 ; 
and to which add cost of leather, banding, brushes, stock 
for repairs, &:c. ;^ 10,000 — .making, in all, an outlay of 
;^118,000-™and you leave, in favor of manufacturing, a 
balance of ^197,000. 



53 

This is the amount of wealth actually created by labor and 
skill in one year ; or, in other words, what the communi- 
ty will receive back in that time, on the capital invested ; 
and yet the original capital would remain unimpaired. 
This operation continued for five years, would return the 
original capital and an addition of ;^735,000. In other 
words, the sum of ^250,000 at first invested, would, in 
five years, be increased to ;^1,235,000. The increase 
would swell the wealth of the community by so much, and 
would be distributed among all classes, for capital, labor, 
&c. &c. Such an increase of wealth is by no means to 
be despised. But, not to place entire reliance on his own 
estimates, the writer will avail himself of other data. 

McCulloch, in his Enclyclopedia of Commerce, before 
quoted, estimates the value of British (cotton) manufac- 
tures, in 1847, at 40,000,000 pounds sterling; and the 
capital invested in the business, at about the same 
amount. The cost of manufacturing, as above, including 
the cost of cotton, is about 34 per cent, of the manufac- 
tured value. The return then, to the British community, 
is about sixty-six per cent, of the amount of capital in- 
vested. At this rate, an amount more than equal to the 
capital by two per cent, is returned in eighteen months. 
But, to come nearer home : — 

It will be remembered that, according to the tables 
appended to the census of the United States for 1840, 
and the allowance we made for increase up to 1848, the 
value of manufactured cotton in the five states we have 
named, was about ^41,000,000; and the capital invest- 
ed, about ^43,000,000. Taking the rate of expenses 
before stated, this value of product falls a trifle short of 
returning the amount of capital in eighteen months ; but 
it must be recollected, the census tables embrace all cot- 
ton mills, good, bad, and indifferent, in 1840. Since 



54 

that period, many valuble improvements have been made ; 
and now a mill can be constructed, w^hich, with a small- 
er capital, and much less expense, can manufacture more 
and better goods than the best mill in 1840. Many of 
those then considered inferior, unless remodeled and fur- 
nished with modern machinery, may now be considered 
worthless. 

To the planters and capitalists of the southwest, who 
wish to make the experiment without the risk of loss, be- 
fore engaging in manufacturing exactly at home, an excel- 
lent opportunity now presents itself — an opportunity 
which it is hoped hundreds will embrace — to satisfy them- 
selves, from practical experience, of the vast practical 
utility and importance of cotton manufactures, to the 
southern community. 

A company of capitalists long since purchased a tract 
of land directly on the west bank of the lower Ohio, one 
hundred and thirty miles below Louisville, Ky. and situ- 
ated just within the borders of Indiana. The tract con- 
tains one of the most valuable beds of bituminous coal 
in America, in inexhaustible abundance ; and has been 
surveyed and laid out for a manufacturing town. The 
place already contains about six hundred inhabitants, and 
coal mining operations are carried on to a considerable 
extent. Several charters for manufacturing companies 
to be located here, have been procured from the Legisla- 
ture. The provisions of these charters are of a very lib- 
eral character, and, already, a company has been formed 
under one of them, and contracted for a cotton mill of 
ten thousand spindles, the construction of which, as well 
as that of its steam engine and machinery, is now in ac- 
tive progress, to be completed and put in operation with 
all possible despatch. Within a period of less than two 
years hence, the passengers on the lower Ohio will hear 



66 

the hum of the spindle and the clatter of the loom at 
Cannelton, the name of the place, and behold it a neat, 
pretty, and thriving town. This, however is but a com- 
mencement. The convenient location of the spot for 
transportation — its close proximity to the cotton growing 
regions — its vast abundance of the best fuel in the coun- 
try, and of every necessary material for building — its sit- 
uation in the midst of a rich agricultural country — its 
command of the great valley of the Mississippi for a mar- 
ket — all these advantages, and others connected with 
them, make Cannelton the finest sight for the manufac- 
turing business in the Union ; and fully justify the pre- 
diction that, ere many years have elapsed, it will become 
an extensive manufacturing city, not outrivaled even by 
Lowell herself. Such a prediction may appear extrava- 
gant to some, but when it is considered that Lowell, with 
no peculiar advantages but her power, within about 
twenty-five years, has risen from a barren and unpeopled 
waste, to a rich and populous city, there can be no plau- 
sible reason assigned, why Cannelton, with a better mo- 
tive power than Lowell has, and much more of it, and 
a thousand advantages that Lowell never possessed, 
should not advance with equally rapid strides. Such will 
be the fact — and if Cannelton does not, in thirty years 
from this time, outstrip the present Manchester of the 
United States, it will be because the people on the Ohio 
and Mississippi, had rather advance the interests of oth- 
ers, than their own. 

This, it strikes the writer, presents a grand field of 
operation for the people of the south, and more especial- 
ly at the southwest, at the present period, when it may 
be said that cotton manufacturing there is in its infancy. 
Establish a manufacturing city at this place, and it will 
serve as a beacon light to the people of the south, to di- 



56 

rect their steps. It will also become a school, in which 
thousands will be taught to manage and direct the oper- 
ations and business of the cotton mill, and from which, 
aid can readily be obtained at all times when wanted, at 
any other point. Such a place, by means of its almost 
inevitable success and prosperity, would exert a very 
great influence on the southern country, through its own 
practical example ; and would, indirectly, cause many 
other similar establishments to rise up in various parts. 
It would continue to extend its ramifications in all direc- 
rections, till the entire south had been awakened to the 
importance of the business and become a manufacturing 
country, as well as a cotton growing country. On this 
spot, and in self-defence, should the southern and western 
agriculturists meet ; and, by the combination of their 
means and their energies, make Cannelton what it is 
fully capable of being — the great manufacturing city of 
the world. 

To persons at all acquainted with the facilities afforded 
for the business of the cotton manufacture at the above 
named spot, and the details of the business itself, noth- 
ing need be added to what has already been said, to sat- 
isfy them of its admirable adaptation to the object in 
view. To others, however, a further explanation may 
be necessary. We would here remark — 1 . A very large 
proportion, nearly all, of the domestic cotton goods now 
consumed in the Mississippi Valley, find their way there 
from the east, either by the lake route direct, or, by the 
way of New Orleans. The transportation, insurance, 
&c. by either route enhance the cost of the goods at least 
one half cent per yard. That additional cost per yard, 
on four millions and five hundred thousand yards per an- 
num, the product of a mill of ten thousand spmdles, will 
amount to ^22,500. The cotton used at the east, must 



57 

be transported from New Orleans or some other south- 
ern port, and provided there were no waste, the freight 
and expenses would be the same as on the cloth. But, 
for 4,500,000 yards of cloth, weighing about 1,600,000 
pounds, it has been seen, a quantity of cotton is required, 
of 1,800,000 pounds. The fieightand expenses on this, 
in the ratio of those on the cloth, would be $25,000 ; and 
which with the foregoing, makes the net sum of ,^47,500. 
Cannelton being situated in close proximity to the cot- 
ton growing country, it is very obvious that the expenses 
thus incurred to the eastern manufacturer, on the raw 
material, will be saved to the manufacturer of the former 
place. As he also has a market for his cloth, at hand, 
a like saving on that article must be made too. The 
gross amount of ^47,500 thus saved per annum, is about 
nineteen per cent, on the entire capital of ;$'250,000 — a 
capital amply sufficient to cover the cost of the factory 
and its appendages. 

At eastern manufacturing establishments, scarcely any 
requisite materials are found for building, with the ex- 
ception of stone. Hence, large expenditures become 
necessary for the purchase of lumber, lime, brick, &c. &:c. 
at a distance, and to transport the same to the spot where 
wanted. But, at Cannelton, every necessar}' material 
is found at hand, at little or no expense, and requiring 
only to be brought into proper forms for use, for which, 
every facility exists. These local advantages must of 
course be of vast consequence, as they will greatly ex- 
pedite the construction of such buildings as may be re- 
quired, and save much of the expense usually incurred. 

Again — the comparative trifling cost of steam power at 
Cannelton, is a desideratum not to be left out of the ac- 
count ; and to illustrate this fact more fully, we will give 



58 

two or three estimates, made up from practical data ; as 
follows : — The cost of water power at Lowell, Mass. is 
five dollars per spindle. Hence, sufficient water power 
at that place to drive ten thousand spindles, is fifty thou- 
sand dollars, ,S^50,000 
Cost of foundations for a mill on the bank of a 

river, at a spot selected for the purpose, 20,000 



Making up a total cost of ;$70,000 



The interest on this, at 6 per cent, per annum is ^4,200 
Transportation of 2,500 tons per annum at ^1 ,25, 3,125 
Cost of heating the mill, per annum, 2,000 

Making the total cost of water power per an- 

num for ten thousand spindles at Lowell, ^'9,325 

A modern built mill will require, if constructed ex- 
pressly for the manufacture of coarse cloths, a power 
equal to two hundred horses, to drive ten thousand spin- 
dles, with the other requisite machinery. Thus, the 
horse power at Lowell would cost^46,62|, per annum. 
This we set down as within the actual cost of water 
power, at Lowell. Let us now turn our attention to 
steam power. In this case, as in the statement relative 
to water power, we appeal to known facts. 

There is, in full operation, at Salem, Mass. an estab- 
lishment for the manufacture of cotton, known as the 
Naumkeag Mill. This mill contains thirty-one thousand 
spindles, and six hundred and fifty broad looms. The 
quantity of anthracite coal consumed, per day, is six tons ; 
and this quantity is found ample to generate steam for 
motive power, for the mill and machine shop, warming 
the mill, offices, &c. making sizing, furnishing all the 
drying apparatus connected with making cloth, &c. In 
fact, the above is the entire amount of fuel consumed on 
the premises, for all purposes. The annual quantity 



69 

consumed, is therefore 1800 tons; which, at ^5 per ton, 
costs ^'9,000 

Engineer, firemen, repairs on engine, &c. &c. 1,500 

Making the entire cost, per annum, ^10,500 

The engine in the Naumkeag Mill, is four hundred 
and fifty horses power, and working three hundred and 
fifty. Thus, the actual cost is 030 per horse power, and 
less than the cost of water power at Lowell, by ^16 62^ 
— or, less than the water power at Lowel for ten thou- 
sand spindles, and the requisite number of looms, &c. by 
j^3,324. To use steam however to the best advantage, 
the mill and engine should be large. A large engine 
operates with much greater power in proportion to its 
size, than a small one, or, in the technical language of 
scientific men, performs a much greater duty with a given 
quantity of fuel. In all small engines, necessity compels 
the adoption of the high pressure principle. In larger 
engines, that of low pressure is adopted ; which makes a 
saving of at least fifty per cent, in the article of fuel. 

At Cannelton, the cost of steam power will be much 
less than it is at Salem. At Cannelton, coal of the best 
quality can be had at four cents per bushel ; equivalent 
to ;^1 20 per ton. To run the Naumkeag engine at 
that place, with 1,800 tons of coal per annum^ would 
cost, for fuel, ^^2,160 ; being ^6,840 less than the fuel 
for that engine costs at Salem. The coal to drive a mill 
of 10,000 spindles, cannot exceed 1000 tons per annum; 
which, at Cannelton, will cost ^1,200. The pay of an 
engineer and fireman would be ^1,000, and the cost of 
oil about ^300 more ; and making, together with the 
cost of coal, the comparatively trifling sum of ^2,500 per 
annum, as the entire cost. In our estimate, we offset the 
cost of the steam engine, repairs, &c. against the cost of 



60 

flumes, race-ways, water wheels, wheel pits, &c. requir- 
ed for the mill driven by water power, though the origi- 
nal cost of the latter is greatest, and the former can be 
perpetuated and kept in repair at the smallest expense. 

Cannelton is situated in the midst of a vast fertile re- 
gion, yielding in great abundance, all the usual products 
of the farm and the dairy, including large supplies of corn 
and wheat ; and w hich are sold in market at prices much 
lower than similar articles in the markets of New Eng- 
land. Fuel, a very important item in the list of articles 
for domestic uses, may be had, as already stated, at less 
than one-fourth part of its cost in eastern towns by man- 
ufacturers ; or at about one-sixth of the price paid for the 
article at retail. Under all the circumstances, probably 
it is not assuming too much to say that labor may be 
had there for manufacturing purposes, full twenty per 
cent, lower than in New England, and yet, all things 
considered, that operatives will be better paid. As la- 
bor constitutes much the greatest item in the cost of man- 
ufacturing, many thousands of dollars per annum will be 
saved in this way. We might, if necessary, enumerate 
many other advantages connected with Cannelton as a 
manufacturing place, such as its easy communication 
with other places, especially the important port of New 
Orleans, &c., but it is presumed enough has already been 
said on the subject to show that no other spot in the 
American Union, at least no one known, and occupied 
for manufacturing purposes, can compare with this for the 
prosecution of a safe and lucrative business. We will 
however add two or three other advantages, by way of 
inducement, to turn the attention of capitalists to this 
truly valuable spot. They are — first, persons who now 
contract for lots for manufacturing purposes, can rent 
coal land of the Company, should they prefer to do so, 



61 

at one cent per bushel of coal raised — and it will cost 
but two cents per bushel to raise it. Thus, as good coal 
as our country affords may be had at the very low rate of 
NINETY CENTS per ton ! Second — for all buildings erect- 
ed on the premises for a time, the company will give 
requisite quantities of sand, clay, stone, and timber ; and 
they will sell at low rates, fire-clay, sand-stone, and lime- 
stone, all of the best quality, and all found in abundance 
within the limits of the company's purchase. Third — 
there cannot be a reasonable doubt that this property 
will, now active operations have commenced, be doubled 
or trebled in value in the course of a few years. It there- 
fore presents an opportunity, and such an one as seldom 
occurs, for a very safe and profitable investment of capi- 
tal. We repeat the question — Should not the planters 
and capitalists on the Lower Ohio, and the Mississippi, 
combine their means and their energies to make this in- 
fant town, as a manufacturing place, what its situation and 
local advantages so eminently fit it to become ? If they 
decline to do so, it must be because they do not properly 
appreciate the benefits to be derived from it. 

On the subject of the construction of cotton mills, the 
writer would now address a few remarks to the people 
of the south. 

There are several requisites indispensable to the suc- 
cessful prosecution of an important enterprise ; such as 
judgment, skill, industry, and means. It is not indispen- 
sably necessary, however, that one man should possess 
all these, for if he possess what is significantly termed 
the means, he can readily command all the rest. But, 
in the application of the means, one should be certain 
that every other requisite should be such as the nature 
of the case may demand. Did you wish for a suit of 
clothes, to be worn on a particulor occasion, and then to 



62 

be thrown aside never to be worn again, though you 
might be fastidious as to color, fashion, and "^^," as the 
tailors say, you would care but litle about strength. A 
second or third rate hand with the needle would answer 
your purpose in this case, and cloth which, if it would 
serve your turn to-day, might, for aught you would care, 
fall to pieces to-morrow. The smaller the cost of such 
an article the better. It would be folly to expend much 
money, either on the materials or the making. But, if 
you want a good garment, one that will look well, bear 
close examination, and prove durable, purchase a good 
material, at a fair price. Put it into the hands of one 
whose works have proved him an artist of the first order, 
and on whose integrity you can rely. Your neighbor 
may procure a coat at one half the cost of yours, that at 
first and to the unpractised eye, may appear as well ; but 
in six months afterwards you would not exchange yours 
for half a dozen such. It is just so with almost every- 
thing else ; and yet, most people seem to think it essen- 
tial to obtain everything at the lowest possible cost. — 
This rule would answer well enough, provided you were 
certain that the low priced article were equal in quality 
to one of higher price ; but such is seldom the case. 

In these days of competition, there are but few arti- 
cles in market but what are offered at prices about as 
low as they can be afforded at ; and if one man under- 
sell another by some twenty per cent., strong as may be 
his protestations in favor of his own honest dealing, and 
the good quality of his goods, there is evidently fair 
ground for suspicion that there is some deficiency fully 
equivalent to the difference of price, either in materials, 
workmanship, or both. In this manner the unwary are 
frequently deceived and entrapped by the pretendedly 
honest dealer, into the purchase of a worthless article, 



6S 

because it can be had at a low price. It is by such 
means, the people of the south who will make nothing 
for themselves, are imposed on by hawkers and pedlers. 
Carriages, harnesses, dry goods, hats, shoes, and innu- 
merable other articles, particularly clocks, in the hands 
of these characters, meet you at every step, as abundant 
as the frogs in Egypt in the time of Moses. Almost 
every article thus vended, is of a description that could 
hardly be sold in a northern market at any price. These 
spurious articles are usually sold at prices nominally low 
at the south, yet at an enormous advance on the original 
cost ; when in fact, they are worth little or nothing. The 
result is that the southern purchaser is, as a general thing, 
cheated out of about forty per cent, of the money he thus 
expends. This is by no means an imaginary state of 
things. It is the sober truth. Pedlers often boast of 
their exploits at the south in that line. 

Warned by such tricks in trade, and of the great ease 
with which false pretensions can be made, no southern 
person or persons about to engage in the manufacturing 
business, should place confidence in the mere profession 
of ability made by any man, nor in his promise to furnish 
a good establishment for the business. Professions and 
promises cost nothing, and some men who honestly be- 
lieve themselves what they profess to be, are not so, and 
cannot redeem their promises ; and there are others who 
care nothing for either, and have no other object in view 
than a profitable job. But one is just as disastrous as 
the other to the interest of his employer. In the pres- 
ent day, the profits of the manufacturing business de- 
pend on the kind of goods manufactured, and the facility 
with which they can be turned off; or in other words, 
for manufacturers to make their busmess profitable, the 
goods made must be adapted to the market for which 



64 

they are intended, and the greatest quantity turned off, 
of the best quality, at the smallest cost. To do this, a 
manufacturer must have machinery of the very best qual- 
ity, arranged in the very best manner, and subjected to 
the very best management. There are men who will 
promise to construct such a mill, and subject it to such 
management, at a cost nearly as low as that at which the 
bare machinery of such a character can be obtained at 
the shops where it is made. It is evident they cannot 
redeem their promises, and that, in the event of contracts 
with such persons for such purposes, the employer must 
suffer. 

A first rate cotton mill cannot be constructed and 
managed at a second or third rate price. Any person 
who may enter into, and carry out, a contract to do so, 
must cheat himself or somebody else, if he fulfils it; but 
ten to one he does not intend to fulfil his contract to the 
the letter, and his deficiency in price will finally be more 
than counterbalanced by deficiency in the work itself. — 
Others again, it consequence of boasted skill, will seem 
to spurn the notion of low prices, and taking advantage 
of those unaccustomed to the business, will furnish a very 
ordinary establishment, and receive for it, all that a first 
rate one is really worth. Many occurrences have taken 
place, of the character above named, both North and 
South ; and many failures in the business have been the 
consequence. Wherever such contracts are entered into, 
with such persons, failures will follow as a matter of 
course. The fact is, in such cases, the capitalist does 
not apply his means so as to command judgment, skill, 
and industry, accompanied with integrity of purpose. — 
Will the reader then, if he have any thought of embark- 
ing in the manufactuting business, accept a scrap of ad- 
vice honestly and frankly given. 



65 

1. If jou determine to build a cotton mill, determine 
at the same time, that it shall be equal in goodness to any 
one in the United States, cost what it may. 2. That you 
will not employ one to construct it, unless he be perfect- 
ly acquainted with the business, both as engineer and 
manufacturer ; and from scientific knowledge of the sub- 
ject be able to bring to his aid, every improvement of the 
age, and to your aid, as to management, &c. every requi- 
site information, to ensure success to the enterprise. 3. 
For all these matters, take neither the professions nor 
the promises of any man, no matter how knowing or hon- 
est he may appear to be. On the contrary, refer, for in- 
formation, to disinterested persons, themselves success- 
ful practical manufacturers, for testimony as to skill and 
other qualifications ; and above all let the works of the 
man himself already accomplished, constitute the final 
criterion of judgment. Follow this advice, and you will 
not fail to find your mill meet all your just expectations. 
Reject it, and you will most likely see your hopes perish 
by means of a failure. 

Suppose the machinery and the engine, and in fact 
every thing exclusive of the building, to make up a mill 
of 10,000 spindles, cost when ready to go into operation 
fourteen dollars per spindle. The entire cost will be 
^140,000. Suppose this mill to manufacture 4,500,- 
000 yards of cloth per annum, at 7 cents per vard ; the 
cloth would bring pi 5,000. 

Suppose again this mill shall have cost ^16 per spindle, 
or, in the whole, ^160,000 ; and should manufacture the 
above quantity of cloth, and which, on account of its su- 
perior quality, should command 7 1-2 cents in market, 
while other goods of the same fineness were selling at 7 
cents per yard. The cloth would then bring ^37,500, 
9 



66 

or ^22,500 more than the product of the other mill at 7 
cents per yard. In one year this difference in market 
value would be equal to 112 1-2 per cent, on the excess 
of cost of the latter mill over the former ; and in two 
vears would pay more than the difference in the original 
cost of the two mills. What person then in his sober 
senses, would hesitate to say, under the circumstances, 
that in reality, that was the cheapest mill which had cost 
the most money ? Yet this is not a case supposed for the 
sake of the argument. Mills now in operation fully veri- 
i"y its reality by evidence not to be successfully contro- 
verted — viz. the value of their goods in market. From 
the great difference in the qualities of cotton machinery, 
and the diffisrence in its arrangement and management, 
it is easy to make the difference of half a cent per yard 
in the market value of cloth. But the writer can cite a 
stronger case than this, even. The capital invested in 
the mill which costs ^140,000, is, including the requisite 
amount of floating capital, ^^230,000. Suppose the mill 
to operate 375 looms, to turn off thirty yards of cloth per 
loom, each day. Suppose again, at the expiration of the 
year we find the establishment to have just paid expenses, 
without having put a dollar into the pockets of the own- 
ers. This is one side of the case, and no fiction either. 
Again — allow the mill which cost j$ 160,000 to operate a 
like number of looms, and to turn off forty yards of cloth 
per loom each day, at less cost than the other, and at the 
expiration of the year to pay the stockholders ten per 
cent, on a capital of ^250,000. Would not such a cir- 
cumstance go still farther to show that the cheapest mill 
was that which had cost the most money ? This is the 
other side of the case ; and, like the former, no fiction. 
Mills are now running which have, during the past trying 
year, verified the reality, on one hand, by the very plain 



67 

and unmistakable argument of no earnings ; and, on the 
other hand, by proofs equally plain and simple, and far 
more satisfactory, in the form of handsome dividends. — 
This makes some difference, as stockholders well know. 
Manufacturers practically aware of these different results 
from the different effects on their interests, require no far- 
ther evidence that, to build cotton mills at small cost is, 
to use a trite old saying, to " Save at the spigot, and lose 
at the bung.^^ 

That manufacturing at the north is a good business, 
with good machinery, good management, and due econo- 
my, it is too late in the day to deny. That it might be 
made much more so than at present, by keeping pace 
with the improvements of the day, is equally true. It is 
the use of antiquated machinery, bad arrangement, bad 
management, and the want of due economy, which cause 
the few occasional failures that occur in the business. 
That manufacturing can be made more lucrative at the 
south, than at the north, it appears to the writer is per- 
fectly self-evident ; provided the necessary precautions be 
adopted, to repudiate the notion of cheap factories, and 
to beware of unskilful and unscientific engineers, and 
ignorant managers. Every facility enjoyed in New Eng- 
land for the prosecution of the business, can be as readily 
and cheaply commanded at the south. Should however the 
cost of a few of them be a trifle more in the commence- 
ment, and it can be but a trifle, competition would soon 
equalize it. Besides, at the south, the cotton can be had 
on the spot at rates of at least one cent in the pound 
cheaper than in New England, as has been already no- 
ticed ; and this difference alone, will be sufficient to cover 
the cost of wear and tear, repairs, machinists, &c. 

The views of the subject given by the writer, are ap- 
plicable to most situations in our southern cotton country, 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



018 446 188 2 m 



68 



but more particularly so to commercial towns on the sea- 
board, and situations on rivers, or in their vicinity, pro- 
vided they be healthy, where the necessity of expensive 
land transportation is obviated, and where every facility 
for the business exists, or can readily be commanded. 
He who knows that this business is made highly profita- 
ble at the north, by the use of steam power, must be al- 
most beside himself, to suppose that it cannot be made 
more so at the south, under proper guidance and man- 
agement ; and especially in commercial places contiguous 
to navigable waters. 



Erratum. — On page 15, commencing at line 15, read — Besides, 
there is the interest on the public debt, nearly $130,000,000, which 
with the current expenses of the government, make up the amount of 
nearly $260,000,000 per annum. 



LIBI 









6 









<^ 



tff 



